Fujimi 1/350 Hiryu ( ?? )

[Dan K]

Thank you, all!

No idea how you can keep it that straight!

Dumb luck, mostly.

Both types of netting are pretty straightforward, though the personal netting has to be rolled to match the curve of the supports. In retrospect, I should have just assembled those all before painting, then sprayed them and hand painted the gray portions.

The benches are scratch-built from Evergreen 2020 V-groove and railings.

[taskforce48]

The benches are scratch-built from Evergreen 2020 V-groove and railings.

Dan...... dunno what else to say other than WOW...

Coming along beautifully

Matt

[Dan K]

Thanks Matt.

I sort of lost track of my narrative so, here are bridge progress photos.

[Dan K]

Bridge and mainmast installed.

[marijn van gils]

Wow, fantastic details on that bridge!

[Dan K]

Much appreciated, marijn.

Some more detail photos, mostly about rigging the mainmast. One can also see a pesky arrestor cable that was subsequently dealt with.

[Dan K]

I forgot to include one photo that should have appeared before the very first of the last posting.

I wouldn't want anyone to think that this build was without incident.. After all, it is me that's doing the work......

[Joe Simon]

Dan this is an awesome build. I love the work you are doing!

[Dan K]

I've been preoccupied with other matters for a while now, so I'm embarrassed to admit that I can't remember exactly what I had intended to post next. No matter; the build is very far along, so I'll post several updates shortly.

Today, some views of the rigging.

[Dan K]

Also of the bridge and flag.

Interestingly, Hiryu had a canvas awning over the signal flag bin. I don't know that it was always used, but it was certainly visible on trials. A closer inspection of other Japanese fleet carriers revealed several similar awnings in use on Junyo, Shokaku, and Zuikaku.

[Chuck Bauer]

I agree with Joe.

Stunning work

[marijn van gils]

Almost there!

The rigging looks great, and that canvas awning is a great detail. Fantastic work as usual!

[SG1]

Dan, That's some exquisite work! Are you planning any (subtle) weathering?

SG

[Dan K]

Thank you all for those comments. Those are very much appreciated.

Are you planning any (subtle) weathering?

I get that question a lot. I would say probably not. My personal aesthetic leans more to the dockyard fresh look, though, here, a light wash clearly paid off to add some depth to the flight deck.

One thing I neglected to mention is that my intention to have the (4) radio aerials raise and lower did not work out. My mechanism worked fine, but the kit sponsons for the aerials aren't deep enough to successfully allow the ratchet gear to clear the catwalks on one side. The sponsons are about .5mm to 1.0mm too shallow. It's definitely the sponsons, because the PE catwalks are the same width as the kit plastic versions. I hadn't anticipated that as a potential obstacle. It would have been a cool feature. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

I'll bore you all with a few more broad detail views. Later this week, we'll get to the air group.

[karih]

Wow Dan! One seriously impressive build you have here . And some very valuable tips and tricks you have used in this build that will surely be helpful in my own projects.

[G. Shoda]

That's a very fine model you have made.

[Dan K]

Thank you both.

I suppose now is a good time to explain my choice of flight deck markings for Hiryu, specifically, the plain white circle. This, as opposed to a red filled circle with the white border, known as a hinomaru. Hinomarus were used by the IJN early in the war as aerial IFF identification markers for their pilots, most notably at Midway. Unfortunately, they were too easily used by USN dive bombers as aiming points, much to the detriment of the Japanese, who discontinued their use in late 1942.

The common wisdom is that the four carriers of the Kido Butai used full, red hinomarus with white surrounds at Midway. Certainly, the authoritative book on Midway, �Shattered Sword�, makes this assertion. However, I�m no longer certain that is completely true.

Akagi, Soryu and Hiryu were photographed from overhead by attacking USAAF B-17s early in the battle. For some reason, Kaga was not. The photographs make clear that both Akagi and Soryu appear to have the red filled circles (as reported by attacking pilots) surrounded by a white background that was the width of the full flight deck surrounding the circle. The circles are monotone in appearance, with no flight deck striping within them, making it likely that the circles were fully painted over and opaque.

Hiryu�s hinomaru is clearly different. For one, there�s no broad, deck- wide white background, only a white circle. Secondly, white deck striping appears within the circle. And third, the open areas within the circle appear to mirror the appearance of the decks outside the circle, as opposed to just appearing as a monotone, opaque surface.

In my opinion, her deck within the circle was left unpainted. This is the interpretation I chose.

Without an overhead photograph of Kaga, it is not a certainty that Hiryu was unique in this regard. However, it does seem likely that that the senior ship in each division (Akagi and Soryu) would have been differentiated from the junior ship (Kaga and Hiryu) for ease of identification. For this reason, I am also of the opinion that the large white surrounds were specific to Akagi and Soryu.

[Devin]

Great work as always, Dan. The sleuth work on those deck markings is top-notch, too. I'd never heard that she might not have had the traditional red deck marking, but your research definitely make that point.

[MartinJQuinn]

All the times I've looked at this model, and I never noticed you DIDN'T have the meatball on the deck!

[Dan K]

Thx, Devin.

All the times I've looked at this model, and I never noticed you DIDN'T have the meatball on the deck!

Jeez, M. Are we really sure we want you judging at contests?


I honestly thought that creating an air group in 1/350 would be easier than in 1/700. Apparently not. For me, anyway.

My intent was to have six to nine A6M2 Zero fighters and twelve to fifteen B5N2 Kates armed with torpedoes on the flight deck, plus other aircraft set below in the hangars. The Hiryu kit only comes with three each of the Zeros, Kates, and Aichi D3A1 Vals dive bombers, so acquiring additional aircraft was a must. Comparisons between various aircraft lines became a process of elimination.

Initially, I thought I might use Fujimi aircraft. These come as a molded one-piece aircraft, less canopy, landing gear, propeller and external ordinance. So, the Fujimis held promise, particularly regarding the potential ease of replacing the molded canopies with photoetch ones. On the other hand, Hasegawa made aircraft are much more detailed, but require more assembly. Their styrene is harder, which is good in some respects, but made removing the molded-on canopy much more difficult. 3D printed aircraft were another alternative, but for the most part, I found issue with their canopies and some silhouettes. Plus, their fragility often hampered some early builds of mine.

In the end, I choose the Hasegawa versions. While I appreciated the better detail of the Hasegawa units, the Fujimi versions all had a major flaw � sinkholes in the fuselage. This flaw applied to not only the kit aircraft, but also to a separate box of ten Fujimi Kates that I had purchased at the same time as the kit. (note: the newly re-released Fujimi 1/350 IJN aircraft sets do not have sinkholes. My early war set is much improved.).

I used photoetch sets from Big Blue Boy for the canopies, and the aircraft were lightly painted with IJN cockpit green to check for issues. It's also worth mentioning the Tetra PE that I chose for the Fujimis is less refined than the Big Blue Boy PE.